BREAKING NEWS

East River Adding Art to the Mix

Major Warehouse Lease Signed

Unilev Taps Stream Realty

58 Cities Drop Off Million-Dollar Home List

RNR Real Estate Briefs – HOU, AUS, DAL & more

Offices For Energy Transition

REALTY NEWS REPORT - Logo

Banner
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Breaking News
    • Houston
    • Residential
    • New Development
    • People
    • Office
    • Multi-Family
    • Capital Markets
    • Texas
    • Retail
    • Hospitality
    • Industrial
    • Land
    • Lease Brief
    • Medical
    • National
    • Realty News Report
    • Trades
    • Uncategorized
  • Archive
  • Subscribe
  • The Ralph Bivins Project
  • About
  • Contact
FacebookLinkedinYoutubeEmail
REALTY NEWS REPORT - Logo

Amazon, E-Commerce and Raw Plastic Pellets: The Evolution of Houston Warehousing – Q&A with Robert Clay

by Realty News ReportAugust 7, 2017
Share0
Robert Clay

HOUSTON – Houston’s industrial space landscape is changing. One of the city’s strongest real estate sectors, it is being buffeted by a number of forces. E-commerce is changing the logistics and need for warehouses. Amazon has two fulfillment centers under development in the Houston area. And Amazon Fresh is going to move in with retail grocery sales. At the same time, the east side’s petrochemical corridor is spurring demand for distribution space. And Houston is gaining a reputation as a distribution center. To help put these changes into perspective, Realty News Report spoke to one of the city’s major movers and shakers in the industrial sector — Robert Clay, president of Clay Development & Construction.

Realty News Report: What will be the impact of e-commerce on Houston’s commercial real estate industry?

Robert Clay: You are already seeing it with Amazon and others coming in. It would seem that if brick and mortar is going to e-commerce then, from a real estate perspective, retail loses and industrial wins.

Realty News Report: Dallas used to be the distribution leader of Texas. But Houston in gaining prominence. Retailers seem to be taking a different approach to handling logistics and warehousing of consumer goods, in the Houston area. What’s going on?

Robert Clay: To be honest, I never totally understood why Dallas is so much more of a distribution hub than Houston. We have basically the same population and yet, Dallas is around TWICE the size of Houston! My opinion is that instead of five major markets around the US, there are now 10 less-major markets and Houston is one of those.

Realty News Report: Clay Development recently developed two buildings totaling 1 million square feet near the Port of Houston and leased them to the IKEA furniture firm. Those buildings were sold to a Canadian investment firm. Can you tell us more about this significant deal?

Robert Clay: We had planned a 1.5 million square-foot park and were getting under way when the IKEA deal surfaced. We only had one other competitor for the deal and ended up winning it. These type deals — proposed, but not completed buildings — happen more times than people think, maybe 20 percent. The Canadian investment firm was also significant. I think this was one of the first significant investments from Canada in Houston. There have been several more in the last three months. I think we’ll see more.

Realty News Report: Six new chemical plants at the Port of Houston will be increasing the supply of plastic pellets by an estimated 20 percent. What impact will this have on the industrial real estate market in Houston?

Robert Clay: More pellets equal more pellet storage. We have seen a large number of new players in the distribution space and I suspect there will be more coming.

Realty News Report: Your firm recently broke ground on two speculative industrial buildings totaling 334,360 square feet at the Energy Commerce Business Park in Pasadena. What gave you the confidence to go forward with this project?

Robert Clay: We have done well on Phase I of this project and are working on several large deals already for Phase II. This submarket (and the Northwest market, which we have a 300,000 square feet spec starting also) has seen good absorption and we believe it will continue.

Aug. 7, 2017 Realty News Report Copyright 2017
Share0
previous post
62-Story Tower Will Be the Tallest Building in Austin
next post
NW Office Building Purchased

Related posts

East River Adding Art to the Mix

Realty News ReportMarch 23, 2023

Major Warehouse Lease Signed

Realty News ReportMarch 22, 2023

Unilev Taps Stream Realty

Realty News ReportMarch 21, 2023

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Search News

Partners Ad
CBRE Ad
Arch Con Corporation Ad
Hines Ad
Avera Ad
Ziegler Cooper Ad
Lee & Associates Ad
2021 Realty News Report Ad
Property Logos
RNR - Lincoln Property Company
Hal Gordon - Property Tax Lawyer
Hunington Ad
Evergreen Commercial Realty
STREAM Ad
Hunington Ad

Let's Connect

logo
About US
Author Ralph Bivins is editor of Realty News Report, which covers regional and national news. Bivins recently received the Gold Award for Best Column in the National Association of Real Estate Editors Journalism Competition. Contact us
Follow us
FacebookLinkedinYoutubeEmail
@2022 All Right Reserved. Powered by CGS Digital Marketing
REALTY NEWS REPORT - Logo
FacebookLinkedinYoutubeEmail
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Breaking News
    • Houston
    • Residential
    • New Development
    • People
    • Office
    • Multi-Family
    • Capital Markets
    • Texas
    • Retail
    • Hospitality
    • Industrial
    • Land
    • Lease Brief
    • Medical
    • National
    • Realty News Report
    • Trades
    • Uncategorized
  • Archive
  • Subscribe
  • The Ralph Bivins Project
  • About
  • Contact